Hazelnut Chocolate Cake (that happens to be vegan)
I adore a good slice of cake just as much as the next person. But my recipe for Hazelnut Chocolate Cake is a little different to the ones you might find in the pastry section of the supermarket or one that you might bake in the oven. This cake is instead made of raw, whole ingredients that is best stored frozen in your freezer, then defrosted in your fridge before serving. Sound different?
You might have tried one of these orgasmic raw cakes at your local hipster cafe, but they do not just belong in Byron or Bondi, I believe there is a space for this kind of cake in your home too (pending you don’t have nut allergies!).
If you haven’t made a cake like this before, I am not going to lie, you will need a high powered blender like a Thermi or Vitamix to create the creaminess required for the filling. Or I will let you in on a little secret, you can totally cheat and use cashew butter that is already ground down for you instead of whole cashews that you need to ground down yourself. A jar of Melrose Macadamia & Cashew or Cashew & Coconut Butter work well for this recipe, you can just stir and freeze. Simple.
This is truly a recipe I have made so many times since I first tested it out because it is so darn delicious. I like to make them in little mini flexible muffin moulds and keep them in my freezer, and then one at a time, pop them into my fridge to defrost so that the consistency is fudgy like cheesecake, and so that when those mid morning or afternoon cravings come I have a slice or two just like I would have a protein or bliss ball. Let them eat cake I say!
Hazelnut Chocolate Cake
Vegan. Gluten Free.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Setting Time: 8 hours
Makes 10 muffin sized cheesecakes or 3 – 4 mini cheesecake pan sized cakes, or 1 medium sized cake.
Ingredients
Base
1 ½ cups hazelnut meal (make your own by toasting and grounding down hazelnuts if you can not source hazelnut meal)
10 semi dried dates or Medjool dates
¼ cup shredded coconut
1 tablespoon Melrose Organic Full Flavoured Coconut Oil
½ teaspoon salt flakes
Filling
1 ½ cups natural or raw cashew nuts, soaked for 4 hours (Or Melrose Cashew & Coconut Butter or Macadamia Cashew Butter
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup coconut cream or milk, (use the thick part of the can, best to chill cans in fridge and scoop out the top)
½ cup raw cacao or cocoa powder
¼ cup Melrose Organic Full Flavoured Coconut Oil
1 teaspoon salt flakes
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Melrose Essential Red Powder, to dust as garnish (optional)
Method
If using whole hazelnuts, toast nuts in a frypan over low heat swirling the pan occasionally to ensure even toasting for about 5 – 10 minutes, or until the skins naturally peel back. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before rubbing off the skins. Place in high powered blender and blitz on high for 5 seconds until hazelnuts resemble a meal. Alternatively use premade roasted hazelnut meal.
Add dates into the blender along with coconut oil and shredded coconut and blitz until a smooth dough has formed and when you squeeze the dough together it sticks.
Divide dough mixture between your lined muffin pans or mini cheesecake pans so that you have about 1 – 1.5 cms thick base and that its evenly spread.
Place all filling ingredients, including soaked cashews, maple syrup, coconut cream, cacao powder, coconut oil, salt flakes and lemon juice into a clean high powered blender. Blend on high until smooth, scraping down the sides of the pan as needed.
When mix is smooth, taste it, if it needs more maple add a little more until you are happy with it. If the mix isn’t smooth you can add more liquid like coconut cream to help make it smoother. Divide mix by pouring on top of bases and place in the freezer to freeze so that you can unmould and then place in the freezer to soften. Serve straight from the fridge and store in the fridge. The cake should be a fudgy consistency when eaten.
See notes:
Chill coconut cream or milk in fridge, scoop the hard or thick part that forms at the top for this recipe.
Store in freezer but allow to soften before serving or store in fridge.